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My one desire is to be like him." "Yes, but you are only a girl yet," I said to her. "That's true, Lisita, naturally I know that, but father used to say to me, 'You're not too small to serve the Lord, Paula! I read the Bible with him many times, and when we didn't have time to read it in the house, we took it to the fields with us and read it as we rested.
As Christmas-time drew near, Paula questioned me as to how we celebrated that day. "We don't celebrate it," I said. "Oh, Lisita, is that true? You do nothing special on that day?" questioned my poor cousin surprised. "No, Christmas with us is not nearly so important as the New Year. Oh, yes; I generally have to put on my Sunday dress, and then I can't play, for Teresa is afraid I'll soil it."
"Well, don't worry about that, Lisita. When we grow up, you will go with me to my old home. Uncle Peter and the man that rented the farm from father, promised me never to leave the place until I grew up and returned. So I made them a solemn promise that I would come back and take over the farm some day. Perhaps the cows and the goats and the rabbits will all be different when I go back.
I heard Teresa say, "My treasure, don't cry any more! Don't afflict poor Teresa who loves you so, and who loved your mother before you. Now, come, come, my angel, that will do. You will make yourself sick. See, here comes Lisita also to comfort you."
And Rosa, like Teresa, at last yielded to her pleading. "How is Catalina now?" was my first question on returning from school. "Always the same," Paula would say. "Do you think, Paula, she'll ever get well?" "That I don't know, Lisita. But I believe she will. Teresa prays for her, and so do I. God is able to heal all the sick people. You know that; don't you, Lisita?"
As we entered, Madame Bertin came toward us with her apron to her eyes and Mile. Virtud made signs for us to come over to the bed, as she slightly raised the sick girl's head. "Dearest Marguerite," said our teacher; "Here are Paula and Lisita."
How beautiful she is," I murmured to myself. "How I do love her! Mlle. Virtud would never be so gentle with her little brothers, if she ever had any." Then suddenly I stopped, for it seemed to me that I heard Paula saying to me sadly, "Are you not ashamed of yourself, Lisita?" And I looked up to see Paula exchanging a few words with a poorly-dressed child just before she joined me.
"Lisita, it is true," Paula said, "Mademoiselle Virtud is quite ill; she tried to get up this morning and wasn't able to raise her head. Victoria, the little girl who was speaking to me just now, knows her very well; in fact, she lives in the same courtyard." "Who is taking care of her?" I said. "No one, as far as I can find out. Do you think Teresa would let us go to see her?"
Soon we guessed the cause, as we heard a rushing sound of galloping horses, which, frightened by the flash and the clap of thunder, came in sight around a bend in the street enveloped in a cloud of dust, dragging a heavy wagon behind them. Instinctively Paula retreated to a protecting doorway and I huddled in terror close beside her. "Lisita!" she called suddenly. "Look! look!"
I know I'm not a good girl and I'm almost as disagreeable as you are, but I am going to be good when Paula comes. You shall see. She will be my dearly beloved sister and she is almost exactly my age. Oh, I certainly shall love her so, and we shall always be together and we, we...." "Keep quiet, Lisita. Your tongue runs like a mill-wheel. Besides, where did you get all these details?"
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